Page 647 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

felt less wretched than at home. She was not forced to
think what she was to do. Everything would be done of
itself. On meeting Betsy coming towards her in a white
gown that struck her by its elegance, Anna smiled at her

just as she always did. Princess Tverskaya was walking
with Tushkevitch and a young lady, a relation, who, to
the great joy of her parents in the provinces, was spending
the summer with the fashionable princess.
There was probably something unusual about Anna, for
Betsy noticed it at once.
‘I slept badly,’ answered Anna, looking intently at the
footman who came to meet them, and, as she supposed,
brought Vronsky’s note.
‘How glad I am you’ve come!’ said Betsy. ‘I’m tired,
and was just longing to have some tea before they come.
You might go’— she turned to Tushkevitch—‘with
Masha, and try the croquet ground over there where
they’ve been cutting it. We shall have time to talk a little
over tea; we’ll have a cozy chat, eh?’ she said in English to
Anna, with a smile, pressing the hand with which she held
a parasol.
‘Yes, especially as I can’t stay very long with you. I’m
forced to go on to old Madame Vrede. I’ve been
promising to go for a century,’ said Anna, to whom lying,

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